Third-Party Claims Cases

Trustworthy Legal Services and Genuine Advice for Your Third-Party Claim

A “third-party” claim involves collecting both workers’ compensation benefits and personal injury benefits (or any other sort of “liability” insurance coverage) from one accident. The simplest explanation of a “third-party” claim is one that occurs due to the negligence of someone other than your employer/co-employees.

As an example, if you are a delivery driver for Don’s Delivery and another person runs a red light and smashes into you, causing serious bodily injury, you have a potential “third-party” claim. You would first receive workers’ compensation benefits from the work comp carrier that insures Don’s Delivery, and you could also make a claim for those same injuries against the liability insurance company for the driver who hit you. In addition to the medical bills and lost wages incurred, you could then also make a claim for “general damages” (loss of enjoyment of life, the inconvenience the accident has caused you, pain and suffering, etc.) which are not otherwise recoverable when it’s solely a work comp injury.

If you are a construction worker on a large job site for Sheila’s Sheetmetal and one of your co-workers from above drops a blow torch on your head, you would NOT have a third-party claim – just a straightforward work comp claim. If that blow torch were dropped by an employee of Sloppy Joe’s Ironworks, however, you would then most likely have a third-party claim against Sloppy Joe’s liability insurance carrier, as well as, of course, Sheila’s work comp carrier.

In any event, if you make a recovery against a third-party, you generally have to reimburse the work comp carrier that initially paid all your medical and compensation benefits. You would then keep everything over and above that work comp carrier’s “lien” and could not bring a subsequent claim against that work comp carrier unless you spent all your net proceeds on industrially related expenses. This is Utah law and there's nothing you can do about it and I am well versed in this area since I do both work comp and personal injury (which not a lot of attorneys do, so they can muck things up adversely for you).

Brian D. Kelm Knows How to Handle Third-Party Claims

As you can probably see, this can be a complicated area of the law. Not all attorneys are well versed in these “third-party” cases. Be sure to seek competent legal counsel if you face such a situation. This is a brief thumbnail sketch of how it is possible to receive two types of disability benefits at the same time that you may be legally entitled to. It is not meant to be, nor could it possibly be, a complete legal outline for making such disability/personal injury claims.

Protecting Your Legal Rights

At the Law Office of Brian D. Kelm, I will leave no stone unturned to see that your legal rights are protected and you receive the compensation that you deserve. Legal matters are complex and difficult to understand. Hence, be sure to seek the guidance of competent legal counsel if you face such a situation. The insurance companies will have their attorneys on the case and you should too.